Air Enthusiast 1972-04
??? - The Rise and Demise of a Weapon (2)
The Airspeed Horsa II was the most-used of Britain's transport gliders developed at short notice during the war, and it remained operational with the RAF until the 'fifties.
First flown in 1937, the DFS 230 was the first troop transport glider used operationally, the basic ten-seat DFS 230A being illustrated.
The DFS 230 V7 was a 17-seat prototype tested in 1943 but not put into production.
The Gotha Go 242A-2, able to carry up to 21 troops, joined the DFS 230 as one of Germany's basic transport gliders during the war.
An impression of the Gotha Go 345B freight-carrying glider with upward-hinged nose.
One of the few GAL Hotspur Is, showing the long-span wing.
The sole Airspeed-built Hotspur II, with revised canopy and short-span wings.
The GAL Twin Hotspur.
The sole prototype of the I.Ae.25 Manque, Argentina's only transport glider, which made only one test flight, in 1945.
Six examples of the de Havilland G.2 seven-seat troop transport glider were built in Australia during the war.
The first prototype of the Slingsby Hengist, a 15-troop glider developed in parallel with the Horsa but not produced in operational quantities.
The revised cockpit contours of the few production Hengists are shown.
The Slingsby Type 17 was designed to the same specification as the GAL Hotspur but was not built. Carrying two pilots and six troops, it had a span of 70 ft (21,34m) and gross weight of 3,000 lb (1 361 kg).
The sole prototype of the DFS 331, which had an aerofoil section fuselage to improve the lift characteristics.
The Gotha-Kalkert Ka 430 was the last transport glider put into production in Germany, but the programme was abandoned after 12 had been built.
Одна из немногих сохранившихся фотографий "Мамонта"
Ordered off the drawing board and put into production in 1940, the Junkers Ju 322 Mammut proved unsatisfactory when tested in 1941 and only the single prototype was flown.
The largest transport glider ever to become operational, the Messerschmitt Me 321 could carry 200 troops and also gave rise to the powered Me 323 transport.
Ко времени появления тяжелого транспортного планера Fouga CM. 10 потребность в подобных летательных аппаратах уже отсутствовала.
Two prototypes of the Castel-Mauboussin C.M.10, tested in 1947, were the only examples of troop transport built in France.